Getty Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman.
The Philadelphia Eagles won’t be making room for All-Pro safety Budda Baker anytime soon. The Arizona Cardinals upgraded Baker’s contract to include $13.1 million in guaranteed money in 2023, plus a new $300,000 signing bonus.
Howard Balzer of PHNX was the first to report the specifics of Baker’s new deal. It should be noted that the adjusted contract doesn’t extend the years, meaning that the 27-year-old will still reach free agency after the 2024 season. For now, Baker is happy and satisfied as he inched up the chart of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL. Baker told the Cardinals’ website that he is “all in” and expressed a desire to stick with the franchise for the long term.
“I was letting the outside noise be the outside noise, kind of laughing at it here and there,” Baker told Darren Urban regarding the offseason drama. “Getting some smiles, getting some laughs out of it, but understanding if I put my head down and grind, everything else takes care of itself.”
Budda Baker specifics. $13.1M base now gtd. $300K signing bonus. Up to $200K per-game active bonus ($11,765 per game). No gtd in 2024. Salary $14.2M the same. Added is $400K offseason workout bonus. Up to $1.4M each year playtime, $500K each year Pro Bowl or first-team All-Pro.
While there had been much talk about the Eagles making a trade for the five-time Pro Bowler, nothing ever got too serious despite Baker constantly stirring the pot on social media. He showered praise on head coach Nick Sirianni while appearing alongside Kelee Ringo in a viral workout photo. Turns out, Baker was just enjoying his summer.
Eagles ‘Lurking Around the Safety Market’
A tweet from MLFootball was gaining traction on July 30 when it cited sources saying “Howie Roseman has been lurking around the safety market.” It’s an interesting nugget, one that racked up 968.3K views as it compared this year’s situation to what the Eagles did in regard to acquiring C.J. Gardner-Johnson coming out of training camp in 2022.
Philadelphia #Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has been lurking around the safety market, league sources familiar with the situation tell @_MLFootball.
Multiple top-tier safeties are currently unhappy with their current contract situation and Philly could look to get them…
No safeties possessing shaky contract situations were specifically mentioned, but guys like Jeremy Chinn (Carolina), Antoine Winfield (Tampa Bay), Grant Delpit (Cleveland), and Julian Blackmon (Indianapolis) have all been mentioned in passing. There is also the free-agent market, highlighted by veteran John Johnson.
Never Say Never: Eagles Plotting Major Move?
Howie Roseman never hangs up the phone when someone calls him, so it’s entirely possible he hammers out a post-camp deal. It may depend on what happens at summer practices and how effective Terrrell Edmunds and Reed Blankenship are at holding down the starting safety spots.
For example, Edmunds had a shaky day on July 30. He was late closing the gap on a deep ball that Jalen Hurts slipped into D’Andre Swift, although the wonky completion was the result of a complete breakdown in the secondary. Meanwhile, K’Von Wallace and Justin Evans have seen first-team reps at camp.
Jalen Hurts deep completion to … D’Andre Swift as the RB was falling down field along the left sideline. Impressive effort to stay with it. Nicholas Morrow was in tight coverage underneath and Terrell Edmunds was over the top on defense. #Eagles
The Eagles are constantly looking to improve the roster at every position. Safety and linebacker appear to be the two biggest needs at the moment. Roseman addressed his thoughts on the linebacker spot on the first day of camp and gave an intriguing answer.
“We’ve got a lot of young players at that position,” Roseman told reporters on July 26. “We’re excited to see those guys, evaluate them on a daily basis, and again, like anything, we’ll keep our options open. We’re never going to close the door on an opportunity to improve our team, so we’ll constantly be looking at that position and every position.”